Concrete Masterclass at Domus

10/31/2017

Tim Balderstone took us through the history of concrete in architecture and design, showing us samples of iconic buildings like “Fallingwater” by Frank Lloyd Wright, the “Church of the light” by Tadao Ando, the “Cathedral of Brasilia” by Oscar Niemeyer and “L’Oceanogràfic by Félix Candela as well as many other interesting and inspiring buildings.

With only cement, water and a strong aggregate (the basic ingredients of concrete) it was possible to build these structures. Even today, the world’s first iconic concrete structure, the reinforced 43.3m dome of the “Pantheon” in Rome by Apollodorus of Damascus, still remains breath-taking in its daring and beauty.

Tim also talked to us about the composition of concrete, its production and basic casting techniques. Surprisingly, this innovative and advanced material still needs to be hand-casted to manufacture tiles in order to ensure the final product meets the required standards.

We also looked at the many and varied natural pigments that are used to colour the concrete; the beauty and benefit of colouring the concrete rather than painting it is evident if broken as the colour will remain.

After the inspiring talk we had the opportunity to see some samples of KAZA 3D Concrete tiles like the organic tiles by Aybars Asci and the geometric and busy tiles designed by Cristina Vezzeni.